Circular weaving apparatus product and process

ABSTRACT

A thick-walled, three-dimensionally shaped fabric is produced on a circular weaving machine with the aid of a rotating filling yarn inserter. The filling yarn inserter is adaptable for placing a filling yarn in an annular shed formed by the machine by moving through a path circling the vertical axis of the fabric.

United States Patent Paul l ].=Emerson Raleigh;

S. Jack Davis, Chapel Hill; John C. Oatlield; Fred H. Engleman, both of Cary; Charles E. Bar-tee, Durham, all of N.C. 883,345

Dec. 8, 1969 Jan. 11, 1972 Monsanto Company St. Louis, Mo.

Original application Dec. 31, 1968, Ser. No. 793,921. Divided and this application Dec. 8, 1969, Ser. No. 883,345

Inventors Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee CIRCULAR WEAVlNG APPARATUS PRODUCT AND PROCESS 4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 139/13,

[51] Int. Cl D03d 37/00 [50] Field of Search 139/11-17, 122-124 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,168,385 8/1939 Baurngarten 139/13 3,480,046 11/1969 Mongc 139/122 FOREIGN PATENTS 241,849 2/1911 Germany 139/123 Primary Examiner-Henry S. .laudon Attorneys-J. Bowen Ross, Jr., Russell E. Weinkauf and John D, Upham ABSTRACT: A thick-walled, three-dimensionally shaped fabric is produced on a circular weaving machine with the aid of a rotating filling yarn inserter. The filling yarn inserter is adaptable for placing a filling yarn in an annular shed formed by the machine by moving through a path circling the vertical axis of the fabric.

PATENTEU JAN 1 1972 3.5335 2 SHEET 1 [IF 2 mEmEnmnmz 31631632 SHEET 2 [IF 2 CIRCULAR WEAVING APPARATUS PRODUCT AND PROCESS This application is a division of application, Ser. No. 793,921, filed Dec. 31, 1968.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a shuttle for a circular weaving machine and, more particularly, to a filling yarn inserter which is adaptable for movement along a circular track and for placing a filling yarn in selectively formed sheds to build up an integrally woven, thick-walled, hollow fabric.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The filling yarn inserter of this invention is useful in circular weaving machines as described in applications, Ser. No. 882,387, filed Dec. 8, I969, which is also a divisional application of parent application Ser. No. 793,921, filed Dec. 31, I968. The main drive gear support has affixed thereto a plurality of vertically aligned filling yarn inserter drive gear supports and a circumferentially arranged disjointed rail. The filling yarn inserter drive gears are vertically journaled for rotation in the filling yarn inserter drive gear supports. These gears are rotated by the motion of the main drive gear. Each segment of the support rail encompasses a short arc about the outer circumference of the main drive gear support and is positioned immediately above each of the filling yarn inserter drive gears. The filling yarn inserter is adapted to simultaneously engage the circumferentially arranged disjointed rail and at least one of the filling yarn inserter drive gears. The filling yarn inserters are mounted extending radially inward toward the vertical axis of the apparatus between the aforementioned fabric compactors. The filling yarn inserters and the fabric compactors move in unison in horizontal planes normal to the axis of the apparatus and are adapted to be extendable and retractable to enable weaving of fabrics of varying diameters upon the surface of a given shaped mandrel. The warp yarns are aligned to pass freely between the plurality of filling yarn drive gear supports without engagement therewith by means of the heddle array provided by the comberboards.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a filling yarn inserter in an extended position;

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the filling yarn inserter in a retracted position;

FIG. 3 is a section view taken along line 16 16 of FIG. 15 showing the relationship of the slides to the guides;

FIG. 4 is a section view taken along line 17-17 of FIG. 15;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary elevation view of FIG. 14 showing the filling yarn break detector and a filling yarn inserter drive gear in meshing engagement with the filling yarn inserter;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary end view of FIG. 14 showing a filling yarn inserter tip positioning star wheel in engagement with the filling yarn inserter star wheel drive pin;

FILLING YARN INSERTERS The filling yarn inserter 180 as generally set forth in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 is adapted to supply the filling yarn 184 at the rate of a single pick per filling yarn inserter per revolution of the main drive gear for the weaving of the thick-walled, integrally woven, selvage free, three-dimensionally shaped fabric of this invention and to deliver the yarn 184 to substantially the precise point of incorporation into the fabric at a preselected level of filling yarn tension.

To facilitate the delivery of the yarn 184 to substantially the precise position in the shed for final incorporation into the fabric weave the filling yarn tip 181 is adapted to move inwardly and outwardly in a plane substantially perpendicular to the vertical axis of the apparatus as the filling yarn inserter 180 is propelled around the same axis along a substantially circular path in the same plane. The tip 181 moves in and out a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the fabric being woven divided by the number of filling yarn inserters employed. This oscillatory motion of the tip 181 directly associated with laying the yarn 184 in the shed at the proper depth for incorporation into the weave will hereinafter be referred to as the weaving oscillating motion. The tip 181 is also adapted to move inwardly and outwardly in a nonoscillating manner in order to compensate for noncircular cross sections of the mandrel 81 and/or variations in mandrel cross-sectional area as weaving progresses. The motion of the tip 181 associated with following the contour of the mandrel, i.e., the periphery or point generatrix of the cross section of the mandrel 81 at the plane of weaving, and independent of the weaving oscillating motion will be hereinafter referred to as the mandrel tracking motion.

The filling yarn inserter includes a tip 181 which is slidably mounted by means of a dove tail arrangement or the like in the tip carrier 182. The tip 181 includes an opening 183 which is adapted to receive and to permit the travel of the filling yarn 184 therethrough thereby inserting the filling yarn into the shed which is formed of the warp yarns. The outwardly extending end of the tip carrier 182 is provided with a shed spreader 185 which assists in spreading the shed sufficiently to allow the filling yarn inserter to pass therethrough. Likewise and for the same purpose the ends of intermediate carrier 191 are provided with shed spreaders 707 and 708. The tip 181 is adapted to slide in the channel 186 of the tip carrier 182 by means of sprockets 187 and 189 and the chain 188. The sprocket 187 is mounted at the forward end of tip carrier 182 and sprocket 189 is mounted at the rearward end thereof with chain 188 tautly held therebetween to form a closed path. The pin 190 extends through the chain 188 and securely fastens the same to the tip 181. The tip carrier 182 is slidably mounted in tract 193 which is defined by the intermediate carrier 191. The chain 188 is provided with another pin 192 which extends through same and securely attaches the chain 188 to the intermediate carrier 191. Thus, as the intermediate carrier 191 moves outwardly, pin 192 forces the chain 188 to move about its endless path around the sprockets 189 and 187 to cause the tip 181 to move outwardly due to its attachment to the pin 190. The intermediate carrier 191 is also provided with the sprockets 194 and 195 about which the chain 196 moves in an endless path. The chain 196 is provided with the pin 197 which extends through same and into the tip carrier 182 and the pin 198 which extends through the chain 196 into the guide 201 of the base carrier 199. The base carrier 199 is provided with a pair of opposed and facing L-shaped guides 201 and 202 which define a track along which this intermediate carrier 191 slides. Guides 201 and 202 are secured to the base carrier 199 by means of screws 203 or the like. Thus, as the intermediate carrier 191 moves inwardly and outwardly along a path defined by the guides 201 and 202, tip carrier 182 moves inwardly and outwardly along track 193 of intermediate carrier l91and tip 181 moves inwardly and outwardly along channel 186 of tip carrier 182. Due to the relationship of the tip 181 to the base carrier 199 through the telescoping carrier members 182 and 191 and their means of interconnections by way of the chains, sprockets, and pins 188, 196, 187, 189, 194, 195, 190, 192, 197, and 198 the extent of movement of the tip 181 with respect to the base carrier 199 is three times that of the power block 210. Filling yarn inserter 180 is driven along a circular path by the gears 164 engaging the rack 719 which is secured to the rearward end of the base carrier 199 by screws or any appropriate means. Gears 164 are spaced around the axis of the apparatus at such intervals that rack 719 is engaged with at least one gear at all times. The tracking guide 213 which is fastened to the rack 719 by screws or any other appropriate means is supplied with a tracking guide slot 720 which engages at all times at least one segmented rail 170 which functions to precisely guide the filling yarn inserter tip 181 The filling yarn inserter 180 is slidably supported at the outboard end of the base carrier 199 by filling yarn inserter support members having a low coefficient of friction. The support members are mounted on a filling yarn inserter support ring which is substantially concentric with the main drive gear and supported by cantilevered brackets which are secured to the gear supports.

The support members are mounted in a circle concentric with the apparatus and space sufficiently close together that a base carrier 199 is always in contact with at least one support member.

The tip 181 is moved inwardly'and outwardly by means of the chain and sprocket arrangement as previously described and by means of the star wheel 205 flexible drive cable 206, meshing gears 207 and 208, threaded shaft 209 and threaded power block 210. The star wheel 205 is rotatably mounted in the upper portion of the tracking guide 213 which slides on yarn filling inserter support rail segments 170 and is directly connected to the flexible drive shaft 206 so that upon the rotation of the star wheel 205, a likewise rotation is produced in the flexible drive shaft 206. The rotation of the star wheel 205 is effected by any solid object adaptable for engagement therewith, such as, a pin means which may be selectively placed into contact with star wheel 205 by a solenoid or the like. The pin means causes star wheel 205 to rotate incrementally as filling yarn inserter passed thereby. Star wheel 205 may be rotated in both the clockwise and counterclockwise directions.

The star wheel 205 is prevented from rotating more than one quarter of a revolution in either direction by means of the detent spring arrangement 216. The detent spring arrangement 216 includes a slide bar 217 having elongated slots 218 and 219 for slidably mounting with aligning pins 220 and 221. The slide bar 217 has an abutting end 222 which normally resides against a flat portion of the star wheel 205 and is maintained in that position by means of the detent spring 223 which is connected between pin 220 and end 224 of slide bar 217. As the star wheel 205 rotates by engaging of spring loaded pin 175, 176, slide 217 moves in the direction opposite to that of the arrow in FIG. 6 thus elongating the spring 223 which in turn provides the necessary force to return the slide bar 217 to its normal resting position against a flat surface of the star wheel 205 upon the completion of the quarter revolution of the star wheel 205.

The base carrier 199 of filling yarn inserter 180 is provided with a spool 228 which is rotatably mounted upon vertically arranged shaft 229, the vertical shaft 229 being rigidly secured to base carrier 199. Spool 228 supplies yarn 184 for distribution to tip 181 and ultimate insertion into the woven fabric as filling yarn. The yarn 184 is pulled from spool 228 around guide 230 and through tensioning means 231. The tensioning means 231 is of the adjustable type and the tension applied to the yarn may be increased or decreased by the selective rotation of nut 232. The yarn 184 then passes around a second guide 233, through stop mechanism 234,'around a third guide 235, around aligning guide 237, through support plate 236 and into tip 181. The yarn 184 is pulled through opening 183 in tip 181 and is incorporated into the fabric at that point.

In reference to F IG. 5, the yarn break detector 234 includes a U-shaped yarn guide 238 which is mounted on base carrier 199 in an upwardly extending position. A magnet 239 and a support arm 243 are mounted to the pivot support 240 by means of the pivot arm 241 and the screw 242. Under normal conditions, support arm 243 rests between the upright arms of the U-shaped yarn vguide 238 and is supported by yarn 184 which extends through the eyelets 247 and 248 in the U- shaped yarn guide 238. Yarn 184 in turn supports the magnet 239 in a pivotally raised position. Upon the breaking of yarn 184, the magnet 239 pivots downwardly under the influence of gravity so that it resides in opening 245 of base carrier 199 as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 5. The filling yarn inserter continues to move along its normal path until the magnet 239 comes in close roximity to a reed switch which closes an electrical circuit whereby the weaving apparatus is substantially instantaneously stopped from further rotation.

FIG. 2 shows the filling yarn inserter 160 in a completely retracted position. The tip 181 is extended a solenoid being energized which pushes the spring loaded pin 176 into contact with the star wheel 205 to turn same in a clockwise direction. The clockwise rotation of the star wheel 205 of one quarter of a revolution causes likewise a clockwise rotation in gear 207 which in turn by meshing engagement with gear 208 rotates the same in a counterclockwise direction. A counterclockwise rotation of gear 208 results in the threaded power block 210 being driven outwardly along the threaded shaft 209 whereby the intermediate carrier 191 is driven outwardly along the track provided by the base carrier 199 in combination with the guides 201 and 202. As the intermediate carrier 191 moves outwardly the chain and sprocket arrangement 194, and

196 causes tip carrier 182 to likewise be moved outwardly along the track of the intermediate carrier 191 which in turn actuates the chain and sprocket arrangement 187, 188 and 189 to result in the movement outwardly of the tip 181 a distance equal to three-fourths the lead of the threadedshaft 209.

We claim:

1. A filling yarn inserter comprising a base, said base including a track, a plate mounted for slidable movement in said base, said plate forming a track, a tip slidably mounted in said plate track and defining a passageway, means mounted on said base and connected to said plate for selectively moving said plate relative to said base, means mounted on said plate and connected to said tip for selectively moving said tip relative to said plate, a yarn supply source mounted on said base for housing a continuous length of yarn, said yarn extending from said yarn supply source through said tip passageway and being adapted to be drawn from said yarn supply source.

2. The filling yarn inserter of claim 1 wherein tension means are mounted on said base and receive said yarn from said yarn supply source, said tension means adapting said yarn to be drawn from said filling yarn inserter under a predetermined amount of tension.

3. The filling yarn inserter of claim 2 wherein said means for moving said tip relative to said plate is dependent for movement upon said means for moving said plate relative to said base.

4. The filling yarn inserter of claim 3 wherein said tip is retractable or extendable into or out of said plate track and said plate is retractable or extendable into or out of said base track. 

1. A filling yarn inserter comprising a base, said base including a track, a plate mounted for slidable movement in said base, said plate forming a track, a tip slidably mounted in said plate track and defining a passageway, means mounted on said base and connected to said plate for selectively moving said plate relative to said base, means mounted on said plate and connected to said tip for selectively moving said tip relative to said plate, a yarn supply source mounted on said base for housing a continuous length of yarn, said yarn extending from said yarn supply source through said tip passageway and being adapted to be drawn from said yarn supply source.
 2. The filling yarn inserter of claim 1 wherein tension means are mounted on said base and receive said yarn from said yarn supply source, said tension means adapting said yarn to be drawn from said filling yarn inserter under a predetermined amount of tension.
 3. The filling yarn inserter of claim 2 wherein said means for moving said tip relative to said plate is dependent for movement upon said means for moving said plate relative to said base.
 4. The filling yarn inserter of claim 3 wherein said tip is retractable or extendable into or out of said plate track and said plate is retractable or extendable into or out of said base track. 